Leadville Helmet Cam Video

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Breck Epic Stage 1 Vid

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Fun stuff and rumor is it only gets better from here trail wise. Tomorrow we do a big chunk of the Colorado Trail. Stoked!

Leadville-Breck Epic- Park City Point 2 Point

Wow time's been a blur lately... Leadville came and went and was just about as hard as expected. I felt OK and was determined to be in the mix at the front for the first half of the race.

I wore a helmet cam and got some footage of the lead group for the new Race Across the Sky movie. Some good shots of Todd Wells' butt. I knew once the race heated up on columbine I wouldn't be able to hang so I figured I'd do some work at the front to help break the record and get a little recognition at least. If I had sat on the whole way over then got dropped that would have been lame.

I paid for it later with a wicked late race bonk which probably would have happened anyway. A pb and honey sandwich pulled me out and I picked up a little steam coming in to the last 10 miles, though once that blown its hard to really come back. I was 2 minutes slower on the last leg than last year but I ended up 10 minutes faster so I can't complain.

I probably should have done at least one long race this year to prep for Laadville- though I guess I'll just use that as training for the real biggest race of the year- the Park City Point 2 Point!

With Beck Epic thrown in this week it's really a roll of the dice. 6 days racing at high altitude could either be a turbo boost or tire me right out. We'll see. Either way I am looking forward to some singletrack! I hear we race over 13,000 feet this week. Wowzah...

Stupor Crest

In honor of the Samurai's Stupor Tour I am going to go ahead and name a ride after it. To qualify: this ride wasn't nearly as long or gnarly as the Stupor Tour and this post won't be nearly as interesting (no pics? lame). I like getting out for the endurance stuff but I also like being home for lunch...

Long story short- with Leadville and the Park City Point to Point coming up and a relative lack of training rides lately I decided to go pretty big on Sunday. I haven't really done any super long rides this year for whatever reason and it was time to give it a whirl. For better or for worse my training time has been super limited lately due to a busy work travel schedule and being blown from burning too many matches riding around in circles feeling crappy over in Colorado. That's another post entirely...

Anyway, to the chase... Sunday being my only full day off for a good 2-3 week chunk here I set out at 8 with the plan to ride Crest from the house, plus a little variation because it was an odd day and I couldn't go down Millcreek. I climbed steady up Big loving the new Flash. Once on dirt I was stoked to find out that it had rained a bunch overnight up there and the trail conditions were perfect.

I rode down past the Canyons to Pinebrook and bailed down through the development thinking I'd just head home over Parley's.
Well I was still feeling pretty good at that point so I thought I'd try to find the "trail" down to the golf course that I've never been able to find. Well, I still didn't find it... and after a while it was too late and I was committed to go over to Big Mountain. Anyone who has done that route knows... and even though I had, its always worse and longer than you think. I actually didn't mind though and was still feeling good by the time I hit the pass and went down Mormon Pioneer to the road and then down Emi.

Stats:
Time: 6hrs 12 mins door to door
Miles: ?
Vert: ?? any guesses?
Heart Rate: No data but spiked when a bee flew in my jersey and bit me multiple times on the back on a technical downhill
Power data: less than Lance
Pace: Steady and consistent
Stops: 2 for water (Solitude, Jeremy Store), 2 for nature, 1 social with the guys from Contender, 2 or 3 quick food stops
Hike-a-bikes: a few on the Great Western. You just cant ride those climbs. La Ruta prep!
Fluids consumed: 6 24 ounce bottles of water. You do the math.
Food consumed: 3 Gu's (2 Roctane's,1 new Mandarin Orange), 2 bags Chomps, 2 small cliff bars, 1 Nature Valley Oats N' Honey
Breakfast: Oats with syrup, walnuts and salt. Banana, Orange Juice. Coffee.
Recovery snack: a few bowls of Cherios with blueberries,honey and milk. Rissotto chips, apple with peanut butter, chocolate.
Tunes: iphone on shuffle
Wildlife: 1 metal moose that fooled me up by Parley's
Energy: Good. Solid all day and felt fresh at the end. Didn't feel that tired after. I think not riding hard for two weeks helped.
Misison accomplished? Yeah, super fun ride.